"You expect to have problems when reporting on sensitive stories in China," writes Pak Yiu, a video journalist based in Beijing. "People following you, thugs blocking your way, obstacles springing up in the most innocuous of places -- it shocks you at first but eventually you get used to things like that. It comes with the territory."

"But when we went to the region of Xinjiang a few months back, it was a whole other level -- surreal, sinister and sometimes comical all rolled into one."